No Matter What
by Kay Skie
Summary: Sequel to Be My Escape. Months after the incident with Fang's mom everything is great until unexpected visits are made by unwanted people and threatening letters are found. Who are they from? Will everything be okay? As relationships are tried and break-ups are found, will Max and Fang's love stay strong no matter what? Title from the awesome Papa Roach song 'No Matter What' HIATUS
1. Chapter 1: Welcome back

**Max**

Welcome back to the marvelous world of Maxie and friends. I'm kidding, I'm Max and if you call me Maxie you'll end up with a black eye. Anyway, for those of you tuning in for the first time I'll lay down the basics. I moved to Virginia at the beginning of my junior year of high school because my dad was abusing me due to the fact that I failed to miraculously save my older brother Ari who was dying. Ari had a strange illness and I was born to save him. It didn't work so my dad began abusing me. He went after Ella a few years afterwards since she was born for the same reason (in case I failed) but when he went after our baby sister Angel (who had been born for pleasure) the two of us went ballistic and called the cops. He went to jail and Mom moved the four of us and our two dogs Total and Akila from Arizona to Virginia.

Once in Virginia I met Fang, Iggy, Iggy's younger brother Gazzy, and Nudge. I'm currently dating Fang, Iggy is dating my sister Ella and Nudge and Gazzy are together. We've all been through a lot in the first semester and with all the stress of the exams last week, I think we're all looking forward to a remotely relaxing second semester.

Today January 28th which is an important day; it's Fang's birthday. He's seventeen today and I'm on my way to his house right now. It's approximately seven in the morning and a Saturday but I honestly couldn't wait any longer. I knock on the door and Ms. Monroe answers but she has a worried look to her face instead of her usually very cheerful, friendly one.

"Hi Ms. Monroe. What's wrong?" I ask.

She seems to debate in her head whether she would like to enlighten me on whatever is the matter but then we hear a yell from upstairs and my only thought is: Fang.

"Fang!" I yell, pushing past his adopted mother and flying up the stairs. I tear his door open and find him thrashing around in his bed, fighting unseen enemies. I know this feeling because I do the same thing every night: Fang is having a nightmare.

"Fang?" I ask, walking over to his bed, my voice wavering with the shock of my unfortunate discovery.

If he heard me he makes no effort to show it.

"Fang? It's me Max. It's all right." I say, shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

Fang blinks open dark obsidian eyes are bloodshot and full of unshed tears. His face is pale and he's staring at me with shock, his eyes fill with recognition and his face flushes as he looks away to avoid further eye-contact.

"Are you all right?" I ask before wincing. That was a stupid question. Of course he isn't all right; he just woke up screaming and now he's trying really hard not to cry.

"You weren't supposed to see that." He whispers, still not looking at me.

"Why? I love you; I'm concerned about your well-being." I say.

He mumbles something I can't hear.

"What?" I ask, leaning in closer to hear him.

"They always said that nobody could love people who scream and cry all the time." He whispers.

I take his face in my hands and make him look me in the eyes. "I love you Fang. If you have nightmares, well that sucks because you're in pain all the time but I'm not going to leave you just because you have nightmares. I love you Fang and nothing will change that." I tell him.

"I love you too Max." He whispers back before pulling me close and kissing me on the lips. My brain shorts and my only thought is that I want to do this _all the time_.

Of course, this is when Ms. Monroe clears her throat and we turn around. I realize now that Fang has pulled me next to him on the bed and I hop up, realizing that he's still in his pajamas. Oops. He he...well then.

"Well, I'll let you change." I say awkwardly as my face turns beet red.

Fang nods, his face also flushed.

"By the way, happy birthday Fang." I say with a smile before walking out the door.

* * *

**Fang**

Hello again, Fang here reporting live from-yes, I'm done with that. Anyway, Max woke me from my nightmare and instead of disgust on her face, I saw compassion, empathy and understanding-the understanding part worries me a little. How does she understand what it's like to have nightmares? Does she have bad nightmares as well? I love her but she worries me sometimes with stuff like this. I wish she would tell me these things...of course I'm sure she's thinking the same thing right now.

* * *

**Hello again dear readers. I am back and sorry for not getting this up and running sooner. I wanted to wait until a time when I could update more frequently and more consistently and now that time is upon us so thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of No Matter What. Also, the quote says, "Love is not about how much you say _I love you_** **but how much you prove that it's true". It will make more sense later on.**

**~Kay~**


	2. Chapter2-Kisses, Pancakes and a Surprise

**Fang**

I get dressed and meet Max downstairs.

"Happy birthday." She says, kissing me on the lips. I savor the kiss, remembering how much love I felt with the first one we shared-my first kiss. I always feel like there's more love in the kisses with each passing day. I hope Max feels the same thing because I try to do the same for her. Regrettably, our euphoria comes to an end becuase of our need for oxygen and we pull away.

"Thank you for that remarkable birthday present." I tell her, smiling a full smile that I can only muster when she's around.

She flushes and rolls her eyes. "Your present is still at my house." She reports. "I accidentally left it there because I couldn't wait to see you."

She couldn't wait to see me? Yeah, she's hiding something but I'll play along. I smirk at her and cross my arms over my chest. "Really?" I ask.

She nods in a way that she's assuming looks innocent but only confirms her guilt. Max never looks particularly innocent except in her conservative dressing style and make-up free face, other than that she generally looks mischievous. She gets this look in her eyes like she's plotting something and she tends to wear this cheeky grin before she does something particularly mischievous.

"Let's go over there then." I say.

"I have breakfast ready Fang!" Ms. Monroe-Mom calls from the kitchen. I'm so glad she adopted me but it's still hard for me to believe that I didn't just imagine it.

"Breakfast? Let's go!" Max says, grabbing my wrist, dragging me into the kitchen.

I shake my head at her as we enter the kitchen. Ms. Monroe passes each of us a plate and says, "Dig in you two."

We load our plates up with eggs, bacon and pancakes. Max eats at least eight pancakes and I eat ten topped with peanut butter and maple syrup. Mom (I love writing this down) looks surprised to see Max and me fighting over the last pancake. She often forgets that Max has a high metabolism like me, but I shovel my food down faster so I only eat more because of speed.

"I can make more if you two want." Mom offers.

"That's okay. Fang can have it." Max says, smirking at me as she tosses the pancake at my face. I catch it but I fail to defend myself against the maple syrup she squirts at me. I'm covered in sticky goo in seconds and look for something to defend myself with. There's nothing (naturally), so I spread my arms out and walk towards Max.

"Back off, I have syrup." She says brandishing the bottle.

"Do you want a hug Max?" I ask.

"No!" She exclaims, running behind Ms. Monroe. "You wouldn't get Ms. Monroe all syrupy would you?" Max asks.

I narrow my eyes at her and she sticks her tongue out at me.

"Fang honey, you should probably get cleaned up." Mom says, smiling at Max and my antics.

"Okay. I'll be back soon. Please refrain from plotting my demise while I'm gone." I say, on my way upstairs.

* * *

**Max**

Ms. Monroe peeks out of the kitchen to see if Fang's gone. She comes back and smiles. "Coast is clear." She says.

"Cool. Where are your cleaning supplies?" I ask.

"In the hall closet." She replies. "You should tell them to hurry."

"Will do." I tell her, getting my phone out.

You may be confused right now. Let me explain. See, today is Fang's seventeenth birthday so we're throwing him a surprise party at my house. I'm supposed to bring Fang there but everyone else is behind schedule. That's why I covered Fang in syrup...and because that was pretty funny. Ms. Monroe is obviously in on the plan otherwise she would have been horrified to see food thrown in her kitchen.

I text Ella.

**_Are you guys ready yet?_**

_No, not even close._

**_How are you guys not ready? I left over an hour ago; what's the hold up?_**

_Sam showed up and he won't leave._

**_What Sam?_**

_The only Sam we know, the jerk-Sam._

Crap.

**_Can't Jeb make him leave? You know, arrest him for trespassing?_**

_No, Jeb's got a call and had to go to work. It's just Mom, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel and me here._

**_Well, don't do anything crazy. I'll be over there in a few minutes._**

_Bring Fang, okay? I don't want you getting hurt._

**_It's his birthday. I'm not gonna make him deal with this crap today. How did he even find out where we lived?_**

_Beats me; just be careful Max._

**_You know me._**

_Yes, I know you, which is exactly why I had to warn you to be careful._

I glare at my phone and feel the urge to punch something. I shove my phone back in my pocket and grab cleaning supplies from the closet.

"Has he come down yet?" I ask Ms. Monroe.

"No, not yet." She replies.

"Can you tell him I went to my house to get his gift?" I ask.

"I thought you were bringing him to your house with that excuse." She says, looking confused.

"There's an inconvenience that only I can take care of so I have to go do that. I'll be back soon." I explain as I walk towards the door.

"Be careful Max." She calls after me.

Why does everyone feel the need to remind me to be careful?

_It's because they care about you and you're a risk-taker._

Great, now I'm going crazy again. The Voice is back.


	3. Chapter 3: Promise

**Max**

I sprint to my house and when I get there I see Sam standing on the porch, obnoxiously banging on the front door while demanding in very profain language for my family to let him in. He's teaching Angel a sorts of new words that she should not know at her age and that makes my blood boil.

"Hey!" I yell as I dart across the street.

"Hi Maxie." Sam greets with a smile. It's like he's forgotten all the crap he put me through.

"Don't call me Maxie." I order.

"Or what? You won't do anything about it and you don't have a boyfriend to help you." He says.

I promptly deck him and yell, "Get out of my yard before I call the cops!"

His gaze darkens as he picks himself up off the ground. "Make me." He growls. Wow, talk about barbaric. What did I ever see in this idiot?

I'll just cut to the chase: we fight, I kick his sorry butt and then my dad pulls up in his old car and welcomes Sam into it. If you found absolutely nothing wrong with that sentence then you should probably read it again. My dad, the one who _broke out of prison_ welcomed my abusive ex-boyfriend into his car and then drove off. There's clearly something very wrong with this sentence!

I see my Dad's car drive in the direction I just came from. He's going the wrong way. He's not leaving the neighborhood. He's going to hurt Fang. Crap! Crap! _Crap!_

I call Fang. It rings and rings but all I get is his voicemail. My eyes fill with tears as I consider the possibility that I'm too late, that he's hurt or worse. I start running to his house and call again. This time after two rings he answers.

"Hey Max, where'd you go?" He asks.

"Fang! Oh thank goodness!" I exclaim as I run.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks.

"Why didn't you pick up the first time?" I demand.

"I was still in the shower. Sorry Max. What's wrong?" He replies.

"My dad, he's coming to you I think. He was just at my house." I answer.

"Did he hurt you?" Fang asks, his voice full of concern and intensity.

"No. I'm fine but I think he'll try to hurt you." I tell him.

There's a shattering sound in the background.

"Fang, everything will be okay. I'm calling Jeb!" I say.

"I love you." Fang says.

"I love you too." I reply, hanging up so I can call Jeb.

* * *

**Fang**

I hang up and run downstairs. Ms. Monroe's lying on the ground with a knife through her stomach. She's lying in a puddle of her own blood which flows out of and around her and my knees go weak. She might die. I might lose my only real mom.

"No." I whisper, looking around for whoever could have done it.

Police and ambulance sirens call out down the street, coming closer to the house.

"Mom?" I ask, looking at her.

"Fang...honey...those men they...tried to go...upstairs but...I...wouldn't let them...Nobody hurts...my son..." She whispers as her eyes try to roll into the back of her head.

"No, no stay awake. Help is coming. Please Mom, don't do this. Stay awake." I say as take my hoody off and press it into her wound, not sure what to do. Not sure if I should remove the knife or keep it in or what. I silently pray to God to let her be okay, to let her live, to not let me lose her.

Someone knocks on the door and I don't say anything, not sure if it's an intruder or help. The door bursts open revealing Max. Relief floods my system until I see her face. She's gazing down at my injured mom with a look of pure horror mixed with guilt. She does not get to blame herself for this. It's not allowed.

"Fang I-" she starts.

Medics and police officers burst into the room, cutting off whatever she was going to say. They put my mom on a gurney and roll her into the ambulance. I try to go too but they won't let me which is complete crap because she adopted me so I can legally do things like this but they still refuse to see reason. The ambulance drives off with my mom and not me in it.

Arms wrap around me from behind and a face presses itself into my back. I tense up, not completely sure who's hugging me.

"It's okay Fang. She's gonna be okay. Please don't cry Fang." Max says in a gentle voice.

I turn around and pull her into my arms, resting my face on the top of her head, only just now feeling the warm liquid as it spills down my cheeks. I didn't even realize I was crying until Max said I was. I'm scared though; I might lose my mom soon.

"She won't leave you Fang. She's strong. She's not going anywhere." Max promises.

I kiss the top of her head and pull away. "I need to get to that hospital." I say, rubbing my eyes.

"I'll drive you." She says.

Max goes inside and runs out with the keys in her hands. She drives me to the hospital and we wait together in the waiting room.

* * *

**Max**

Fang and I wait together in the ER Waiting Room. We spend the time alternating between holding hands and praying for Ms. Monroe's good health and holding hands in silence. When I look at Fang, he just looks, well like a teenager who might lose the only adult he's ever really grown to trust which sucks for him because it's absolutely devastating and I can tell that's what he's feeling: devastation and anxiety.

"It's gonna be okay Fang." I whisper.

He looks at me with a forlorn expression and my heart breaks for him. My eyes water at the sight of him in so much pain but I force the tears not to fall.

"Promise?" He whispers.

I nod. "I promise." I whisper as my own tears begin to fall.

Fang pulls me into his arms and we take turns letting our pain out and consoling each other.

"Who's here for Natalie Monroe?" A nurse asks.

We both jump up.

"Is she okay?" I ask.


End file.
